Auxiliary gripper



c. G. COPE. AUXILIARY GRIPPERJ APPLICIION FILED FEB. 2 1920.

1,350,146. Patented 8.114920.

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AUXILIARY GRIPFER.

APPLICATION man m. 2. 1920.

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4 m m m J CHARLES G. COPE, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

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Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented Aug. '17,; 1920.

Application filed February 2,1920. Serial No. 355,551.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. Corn, a subject of the King of Great Britain, ISlding at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Auxiliary Grippers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to auxiliary grippers for use in connection with the main sheet grippers of platen printing presses or the like.

The main sheet grippers used upon the platen of the usual job printing press are pivoted close to their extremities and are subjected to continuous sudden rocking movements about their pivots. V and combat the heavy strains near. the pivot which are set up by these movements and still retain a member of reasonable dimensions within the limit of thickness imposed by the position of the grippers during the operation of the press, these main sheet grippers are ordinarily made tapered, one

' edge being at right angles to the pivotal axis and the other edge being inclined to the first toward the top. It is an ob ect of my invention to provide a simple, cheap,

convenient and efficient auxiliary gripper for use in connection with a main sheet gripper of the type referred to. Another object of my invention lies in the provision of an auxiliary gripper which may be applied to, and locked inany adjusted position on, a main sheet gripper of the type referred to, without the necessity of modifying or specially constructing the latter.

Other objects of my invention will become clear from the following specification and claims.

' As exemplifying my invention, I have described one of the embodiments thereof in the following specification, and shown such embodiment in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of the platen of a Gordon press, having auxiliarygrippers of my invention applied to the sheet grippers thereof;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan of a main sheet gripper having an auxiliary gripper at the top thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view'similar to Fig. 2, but showing the auxiliary gripper near the botton. of the main gripper;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig.

To lessen 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and.

Fig- 5 is a detail view showing the locking eccentric released. 1 Referring now to the drawings, 10 designates the platen of a job press, having the usual rocking gripper bar 11 carrying main sheet grippers 12 .and 13. Each of these main grippers has an inner edge 14 extend ing at right angles across the platen, and

an outer edge 15 inclined to the edge 14 toward the top of the latter. To these main.

grippers, auxiliary grippers A and B constructed in accordance with my invention are applied. As the auxiliary grippers differ only as'being a right and a left, a dc scription of the auxiliary gripper A, on the main gripper 12, will be sufficient.

The auxiliary gripper A comprises a plate 16 adapted to be on the top of the main gripper 12 and having portions bent downwardly, to form top and bottom abutments 17 and 18 for engaging the edge 14, and back to form flaps 19 for engaging the bottom of the main gripper. It is also provided at the top with a portion bent to form a sheet-engaging finger 20'extending outward at right angles from the edge 14.

Formed in the plate 16 is an inclined slot 21 having formed in the edge thereof remote from the main gripper edge 14 a plurality of seats 22. The inclination of this slot is such that the increase of its distance at thetop from the edge 14 is substantially lug 25 for engaging the outer edge 26 of the plate 16, thereby limiting the movement of the lever. Below the plate 16, the stem 23 has affixed thereto an eccentric 27 for engaging the gripper edge 15, the said eccen-' tric having a flange 28 engaging the bottom of the main gripper. Slots 29 may be formed inthe plate 16 to impart transverse resiliency thereto.

In operation, supposing it is desired that i the fingers 2O engage the sheet near its top edge, thus necessitating a position of the auxiliary gripper such as that shown in Fig. 2, the auxiliary gripper is slid upon the main gripper into the desired position and the finger-lever 24L, first having been moved into a released position such as that shown in Fig. 5, is pushed down the slot 21 until the edge of the eccentric 27 engages against the gripper edge 15. NVhenthis point is reached, the lever 24c is rocked about its pivotal axis, the stem 23 entering and engaging the particular seat 22 then opposite it. The rocking of the lever 24: causes the high side of the eccentric 27 to press strongly against the edge 15, thus securely locking the auxiliary gripper in position. In this locked condition of the parts, the lug 25 engages against the edge26 and the eccentric 27 is somewhat beyond its dead-center position; When the auxiliary gripper is to be placed near the bottom of the main gripper, (Fig. 3) the same proce dure is followed, the stem 23 thenfinding its seat near the top of the slot 21.

It is to be understood that the above is only one of numerous forms in which my invention may be embodied, what I claim being: v

- 1., An auxiliary gripper having main gripper-engaging means and retaining means movable in a line inclined with respect to said engaging means.

[2; An auxiliary gripper having maingripper-engaging means and a manually operable locking member movable in a line inclined with respect to said engaging means;

2. An auxiliary gripper having maingripper-engagmg means and a loclrmg'eccentric movable in a line inclined with respect to said engaging means.

4-; An auxiliary gripper having main 7 edge of the main gripper and locking means for engaging the otheredge, movable with respect to said engaging portion, thereby to compensate for. the variation of width of said main gripper. CHARLES Gr. COPE.

WVitnesses: V

MARI REIGK V MARY E. MCdARTHY. 

